Ozzie and Daniel Silna owned the ABA's Spirits of St. Louis, but when the NBA merged with the ABA in 1976, the Spirits were one of two teams the owners didn't want to join. The owner of the other team, the Kentucky Colonels, took a $3 million payment. But the Silnas negotiated something a little different. They took just $2.2 million, plus one-seventh of all future TV revenue for the four ABA teams joining the NBA. Basketball blew up not long after, and that small fraction of TV royalties has netted the Silnas $300 million so far, with payments set to continue on forever.

The NBA has long tried to get out of the infamous arrangement, which paid out a reported $19 million last season alone. In recent years, it has threatened to become even more onerous—the Silnas filed suit for a share of revenue streams that didn't exist in 1976, like international TV deals and online streaming. Now, says the New York Times, they're close to a buyout.